


A Storm of Change

by Ventotene



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 03:23:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4419332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ventotene/pseuds/Ventotene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sudden storm sweeps across Westeros the night before Neds planned confession at the Sept of Baelor. Bringing with it two key changes that will alter the universe and the fates of the players of the game of thrones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One- Tommen

**Author's Note:**

> Tommen is aged up to be more similar to show Tommen rather then book Tommen. Reason being you can do more character wise with a teenaged King/ heir rather then a child since Cersei isn't playing a huge role in my story. Yes I know we won't see Sir Pounce, but it's a sacrifice I had to make no matter how much it weighs on my heart.

Tommen awoke to the sound of his door being opened and armed men rushing in, although in truth he had never been truly sleeping due to fear of the storm outside. The first man he recognized was his brothers favorite companion and newest Kingsguard Sandor Clegane, and the Hound's frightening features were no comfort to Tommens fears. He saw more men filing in behind Clegane, many of them Kingsguard. 

Finally Boros Blount stepped forward and spoke "Your Grace, King Joffrey has lost his life in the storm. Order and the succession must be restored , your mother is grieving so these duties fall to you. What is your command?" 

Tommen's mind raced. _Your Grace? But that's Joff's title he is King, I don't give any commands._ Then the cold reality finally hit him, his brother was dead making him, Tommen, the King of all of Westeros. While Tommen had always hated and feared his older cruel brother, he couldnt help but feel the familiar tingle of fear crawl up his spine as he thought of his brother losing his life in the storm he himself had sat up in fear of. Even scarier to Tommen were the great number of responsiblilties that were about to fall upon him. 

The rest of the night and early morning were a whirl of activity for Tommen as he was rushed from a quick but solemn visit to pay his respects to his brothers body and see his mother, who clung to Joffreys body crying hysterically and seemed even more anguished to see Tommen go, to a quick and quiet coronation ceremony and finally a meeting with his small council and the rest of his main advisers. The topics of the council ranged from the cause of the former kings death, ruled to be natural disaster from a fire that caught from a lightning strike near the Kings room, to the main issue of the day, the confession of Ned Stark. The small council had all agreed that additional meetings would be necessary after this formality so Tommen proceeded to the Sept of Baelor with his councillors. 

As the High Septon rattled on about justice and mercy, and Ned began his confessional, Tommen was mostly preoccupied with his fear of the silent and intimidating Ilyn Payne. So much so that he missed the end of the Septons speech and Neds confession so Varys had to nudge him to remind Tommen to talk and end the awkward silence that had fallen over the crowd. 

Tommen nervously began, "As your King I denounce this man as a traitor to the realm, and strip him of all lands and titles.." Cheers went up across the crowd of small folk. 

Tommen continued, "However the Seven have also taught me the importance of mercy, so I will allow this man to join the Night's Watch and serve the realm in permanent exile." Boos and jeers erupted from the small folk, the angry mob wanted blood. 

Tommen quickly finished meekly yelling out, "hopefully he will use this opportunity and mercy I have given him to serve the realm in a useful capacity and bring some honor back to his name" 

With that Tommen quickly scurried away from the angry mob with his retinue, and in his haste nearly fell over. However his guards managed to keep him upright and moving and the world seemed to blur around him until he found himself once again in the Small Council chambers discussing pressing issues of the realm. The main topic of the meeting was his own uncle Renly, who had apparently fled south after the death of his father and raised the Reach and the Stormlands in crowning himself king. Tommen had never given his uncle a reason to dislike him, and had not disliked his uncle, so saw no reason for them to fight. Tommen determined the best course of action, against the wishes of his advisors, was to send a raven to his uncle demanding his fealty and peace. As he felt tired and felt he had done enough work he called an end to the meeting for the day. 

Upon returning to his bed chambers he listened to the continued rain outside and that, as it had the night before, gave the boy more fear then any thoughts of future battles, politics, or wars. 


	2. 2- Ned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ned's journey from Kings Landing following his confession.

Ned had been brought back to his cell for the night after his confession and awoke the next day to guards bringing him before Queen Cersei at the rookery, he was to write a letter to his son Robb to inform him of his confession and his plans to take the black and to tell Robb to lay down his arms and return north with his army. As he began writing, with Cersei closely reading over his shoulder, Cersei was suddenly startled by a messenger approaching rapidly from the council. Upon hearing whatever news the messenger had brought, she collapsed and most of the guards ran to her aid. Ned thought fast and decided this was his chance for an act of defiance and to do the honorable thing and quickly began rewriting his note to Robb.

_Robb,_

_I have confessed to false crimes and agreed to take the black in the hopes of protecting your sisters. I now fear they will never be safe or out of Lannister hands. The truth is that Robert had no trueborn heirs, Cersei’s children are in fact the spawn of incest with her own brother the Kingslayer. You must join forces with the true heir to the throne, Stannis Baratheon, and help him beat the Lannisters. With our forces and his claim and battle experience we stand a chance of beating them and saving your sisters. It is our only chance now. I will be joining a group of Nights Watch recruits heading north today out of the city, I hope to find you soon._

_Your father,  
Eddard Stark of Winterfell _

He immediately attached the note to a raven and let it fly. As he turned to the guards he overheard them saying to each other, “The Queen collapsed upon hearing the news that her brother Jaime Lannister had been captured and his army destroyed by a Northern host led by Robb Stark”

Ned was filled with pride and joy, not only had his son crushed a Lannister army but he had captured Jaime Lannister one of the best swordsmen in the Seven Kingdoms. These emotions were quickly washed away as Ned realized that once the Queen awoke there would be no leaving Kings Landing for him. With her eldest son dead and her beloved twin, and lover, captured by the enemy Ned knew her fury would be boundless.

Ned turned to one of her guards and in an exaggerated fashion explained, “The Queen meant for me to be gone from her city today, among the Nights Watch recruits headed north, I think it would be wise of you men to complete this task for her before she wakes up”

The guard looked towards his superior who simply nodded back, and then the guard escorted Ned out of the Red Keep where a waiting group of Gold Cloaks rushed him through the city streets. Soon he found himself shoved forward from the group and face to face with the Nights Watchmen Yoren, who clapped him on the shoulder and said, “My lord, you’ve made it just in time we’re preparing to leave the city now. It’ll be on honor to travel with a man of your repute, especially considering the rest of this sorry lot.”

His voice then lowered to near a whisper, “I have something to show ya but it has to wait till were outta the city”

And with that the group began its journey and left Kings Landing. During the first few hours of travel Ned surveyed the group and had to agree with Yoren, they were one sorry lot. Most seemed to be malnourished or criminals or children or all three. One little boy caught Ned’s eye, _He looked so familiar… no it couldn’t be_ , but the boy seemed to have noticed Ned’s stare and Yoren oddly shuffled the boy to the back of the group where Ned could no longer observe him.

Several days into their travel they had crossed into the Riverlands and stopped for the night, when Yoren and the young boy from earlier approached Ned. As the boy got close, Ned realized this was no boy, _Its Arya!_ Ned nearly screamed out as he realized just who he was looking at. Clearly Arya recognized the look in Ned’s face as she ran into his arms and began crying into his chest. Arya spoke first, “Father I missed you, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever see you again. Everyone I knew was dead and I couldn’t find Sansa. I was all alone till Yoren noticed me at your confession at the Sept and promised me he’d take me home back north or get me back to you.”

Ned could do nothing but clutch her close and give a strong thank you nod towards Yoren who then spoke up, “Aye that’ll be enough family love for now, we still aren’t outta reach of Lannister eyes and all those eyes are looking for her”

 Yoren nodded towards Arya and Ned got the message letting go of Arya he told her, “he’s right Arya, go mix with the others. You know the boy Gendry he’s a good lad, I was a friend of his father, spend your time with him and away from me till we are further north and safe”

For a moment Arya seemed like she was going to object but instead she turned around and headed towards the group of others, _it couldn’t be easy for her to be apart from me again but it’s for her own safety_ Ned thought. Once she was out of earshot he turned to Yoren and they talked to one another at length of the planned journey ahead, and more importantly Ned’s fears of Cersei’s reprisals from Kings Landing as he was sure men had to have been sent after them when she woke.

Later in the night as most of the party had drifted off to sleep, Arya came to sit by her father. Ned entertained her, and more importantly distracted her from the horrors she had experienced, for a few hours with various stories from history, his adventures with Robert, and some of Old Nan’s tales. Before she drifted off to sleep she turned towards Ned and said, “Father promise me you’ll never leave me again”

It was one of the few moments of Arya’s life that she seemed like a daughter instead of a brave strong tomboy to Ned and he smiled, kissed her on the forehead, and responded “I promise”

 And with that Arya walked off to her sleeping spot by Gendry. Ned couldn’t help but smile watching his daughter sleep by the mirror image of Robert, it called him back to his childhood and happy memories. He drifted off to sleep reliving those memories.

He was awoken by the sounds of hoof beats and yelling men and opened his eyes to find it still dark out so only a few hours must have passed, if that, since he fell asleep. His fears of Cersei’s reprisals were confirmed when he noticed the Lannister and Gold Cloak armor covering most of the men. A man stepped forward from the group and announced, “I am Ser Amory Lorch and I have come for Eddard Stark, the traitor and former lord of Winterfell, if you hand him over now no harm will come to any of you”

The group stirred and Yoren and Ned locked eyes, but before anyone else could move Ned began to limp forward. Lorch noticed this and sheathed his weapon along with the several men with him. Before Ned reached the front Gendry grabbed him on the shoulder, “My lord we can fight them, we can-“

Ned interrupted him, “No, they are better armed and prepared. It would be a massacre. If you wish to serve me, save my daughter. You know her as Arry the boy but she is Arya Stark of Winterfell. Get her to her family in Riverrun and you will have done more for me then you can ever imagine. Now hurry and grab her and run, no matter what she says”

The boys eyes were full of awe and surprise, but he didn’t say anything but simply nodded and turned around towards Arya. Ned locked eyes with his daughter and gave her a loving smile and then turned, unable to look at the horror written across her face any longer, and continued walking towards the men. As he neared the front of the group Yoren approached him and before Ned could speak Yoren whispered under his breath, “aye I’d like to leave here alive as well but a cripple like you won’t hold these bastards off for very long”

Ned and Yoren then walked forward together towards the group of Lannister men. As they neared the closest man to them Ned announced, “I am Eddard Stark of Winterfell, but I am no traitor”

And with that he reached for the man’s sword, pulling it from its sheath and whirling it around cutting across the man’s neck, who then dropped to the ground nearly immediately emitting nothing but gurgling sounds. Lorch began yelling, “To arms men! Kill the traitor dog”

By the time Ned had recovered from killing his first man and steadied himself with his bad leg, Yoren had already killed a man and now was fighting two more off to the left of Lorch. Three more men were charging forth from the right swords in hand, and a fourth was readying his crossbow. Ned met the first man on his second step and their swords connected with a clank of steel, he brought his shoulder forward using his weight and strength to shove the man back and bringing his sword down through the soldiers right shoulder. By this time the second man had already reached him, and he pushed the body of the first man off his sword into the path of the second buying him a few valuable seconds. In that time he felt a searing pain in his side and looked down to see a crossbow bolt firmly stuck into his side. The second man, quickly followed by the third, reached him and feinted on his strike recognizing Ned’s weak leg, as Ned’s sword fell past the feint his momentum carried him forward with his bad leg unable to stop him, and the man carried through with his strike cutting along Ned’s right calf. The pain was unbearable and he felt himself drifting from this world, he was no longer fighting in some dark corner of the Riverlands but he was back as a child sparring with wooden swords with his brother Brandon and Benjen while his sister Lyanna and father watched from Winterfell’s battlements. One, two, three clashes of swords as he parried blows from his two opponents, as he drifted between his memories and the battle unfolding before him. He managed to knock one of the men to the ground and followed it up with a knee to the head, knocking the soldier out cold. As Ned and the final opponent circled one another he saw Yoren off to the left, the man had finished his two opponents and was approaching the crossbowman but took a bolt to the chest before he could reach him. Yoren took two more steps to the man and yelled, “Always hated crossbows, they take too long to reload” 

With that Yoren brought his sword down across the man’s chest from right to left, and immediately collapsed. Ned’s opponent had noticed Ned’s distraction by the fight and took a wild furious leap forward, but Ned noticed the move in time and side stepped him quickly turning and bringing his own sword across the man’s beck felling him. Before Ned could do anything else he felt a hand grab his shoulder and searing pain through his midriff. Amory Lorch spoke close to his ear, “goodbye Lord Eddard, it was a pleasure to have killed a man as highborn as you so thank you for not coming quietly”

Lorch then pulled his sword from Ned and released his grip on Ned’s shoulder. Immediately Ned fell to his knees gazing off into the distance, he saw Arya over Gendry’s shoulders looking back at him with tears running down her face. He gave her a sad smile in the hopes it would do something to ease her pain, but all she did was scream back “You promised! You promised!”

Ned felt himself falling forward and his memories rushing forth- a childhood at Winterfell, teenage years in the Eyrie with Robert and Jon Arryn, the loss of his family, war, marrying Cat, his children, and finally Jon Snow and the explanations he’d never be able to share with the boy. With that he was gone, and never even felt his face hit the soil.


End file.
